Dry

This collaboration between YA author Neal Shusterman and (son) Jarrod Shusterman has been getting rave reviews (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly). The characters are all indeed young adults, but the theme is very current and of concern to all ages. Especially with California once again consumed by deadly fires, this tale of how quickly humanity descends into dysfunctionality when Arizona and Nevada stop the flow of the Colorado River into southern California was scary reading on a very visceral level. I started the book yesterday and finished early this morning if that gives you any idea of how engrossed I was. It reminded me strongly of The Water Knife (about which I wrote some time back) but told from the perspectives of several different teenagers. Alyssa, 16, is your typical high school student who plays soccer and has an annoying 10-year old brother, Garrett. Kelton's family are survivalists living next door in this suburban neighborhood; Kelton has had a crush on Alyssa forever, but she thinks he's creepy because of his family. Jacqui, 19, has been surviving on her wits for 2 years and only hooks up with the other 3 when they go looking for Alyssa and Garrett's now missing parents who went out to look for water. Henry is an adopted 13 year old left at home by his adoptive parents in a gated community while they are on a cruise. He is a schemer and opportunist and meets the other 4 when they come looking for Alyssa and Garrett's uncle. They all quickly find out that no amount of preparation is foolproof when things start to go sideways. The government is slow to respond; FEMA is focused on a hurricane and doesn't see the emergency from a water shortage. Except that it's not a shortage--that's been going on in California for a while; it's the Great Tap-Out and people die pretty quickly from lack of water. But before they do, they turn on one another, lose hope and give up, or become heroes. The questions about under what circumstances we lose our humanity are compelling.

The Alice Network

This historical novel from Kate Quinn, based on actual people and events, is told from two alternating perspectives. WWII has taken a terrible toll on Charlie St. Clair's family. Her brother James came home from the war "shell shocked" and eventually killed himself. Her cousin and dearest friend, Rose, was still in France when the Germans invaded and has not been heard from. Nineteen year old Charlie feels she failed them both and thus fell into her own depression, resulting in desperate and careless sexual encounters and an unwanted pregnancy. Her father is not speaking to her and her mother has brought her to Europe for the Swiss "cure" to her "Little Problem." But Charlie has decided to take this opportunity to slip away from her domineering French mother and find her missing cousin Rose. She has only one lead, the name on a missing persons report. When she shows up on the doorstep of one Eve Gardiner, instead of useful information she gets a gun pointed in her face and a belligerent and drunken threat to go away or get shot. But timid Charlie stays, in part because the hired help, another war shocked ex-soldier and Eve's driver, shows up to feed Eve breakfast. Not surprisingly, Finn becomes the love interest for Charlie. Eve is reluctantly convinced by a tidbit of information Charlie offers about the name of a restaurant where Rose had worked, and especially by the name of the owner, René.

The alternating story is told by Eve, a stuttering file clerk who is recruited to become a spy in WWI France because she speaks both French and German perfectly. She is minimally trained in England and then sent to the village of Lille, which is occupied by the Germans. She is greeted and managed by Lili--her pseudonym in the network--who was renowned in real life for timely and critical intelligence gathering. Eve is placed undercover as a somewhat dim-witted (the assumption people make as a result of her stutter) but competent waitress in a restaurant run by a collaborator, René Bordelon. If he is alive, Eve will hunt him to the ends of the earth for what he did to her. It is a taut tale from both perspectives and the unlikely alliance between the two brings closure--albeit tragic--to both. Great writing and compelling characters and settings.
Descriptive review from NPR. 

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President

This is the 2nd book by Candice Millard; my book group also read her River of Doubt, which I found equally engrossing. She is able to tell a good tale about actual historical events, chock full of detail about people as well as places and happenings. The title says it all. I knew nothing about James Garfield but according to Millard's website, "James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, and a renowned and admired reformist congressman. Nominated for president against his will, he engaged in a fierce battle with the corrupt political establishment. But four months after his inauguration, a deranged office seeker tracked Garfield down and shot him in the back." Not only do we follow the assassin's (Charles Guiteau) paranoid descent into a conviction that God wants him to kill Garfield, but we learn almost more than we want to know about the state of medicine in the United States (the NYT called Millard's description "fascinating, if appalling") that very probably was the actual cause of Garfield's death. Of course she tells us about the political machinations that got Garfield nominated and elected along with his wildly unpopular vice president, Chester A. Arthur. And we learn about the role of Alexander Graham Bell in trying to save the president with one of his inventions after Garfield was shot. It is truly a fascinating account and if you are a fan of Erik Larson, you will be happy to read this also.
Appropriately laudatory reviews from The New York Times, Kirkus, The Washington Post,  and Publishers Weekly.

The Music Shop

This novel by Rachel Joyce has one unique aspect: there is a play list (multiple ones actually) on YouTube for all the music mentioned in the book. And the range is wide--from punk to jazz to R & B to classical. The main character (not sure he could really be called a protagonist) is a lonely, affable teddy bear of a man who owns a run-down record shop in an even more run-down side street in London, neighboring a tattoo parlor, a funeral home, a Christian gift shop, a baker, the local tavern and a handful of residences. There are a couple of major environmental factors working against the success of the shop. First vinyl records are going the way of the dodo--it's the 80's--to be replaced by CD's, at least according to the recording company reps. Frank refuses to carry CD's and at some point the reps refuse to sell vinyl records to him UNLESS he buys CD's. The 2nd big challenge is a major development company that is trying to buy out all the residents of Unity Street and is probably instigating vandalism of the stores as a way to intimidate owners to sell. And it's working as one by one the shops start to close and neighbors sell out. The major problem is Frank himself, however, who comes from a pretty stunted childhood in some ways; although it was rich in music, it was very short of maternal care taking. His mother even drove away the one woman Frank loved, the one he believed could give him a normal life,  the one he thought was carrying his child. Now he keeps himself apart although he can, apparently and unfailingly, choose just the right music to solve the emotional problems of others. While I am a huge believer in the emotive resonance of music and, therefore, its power to move us--that is I love and endorse the premise of the book--I just did not like any of the characters. So I dutifully read the book for my book group but can't really recommend it. It reminds one strongly of The Little Paris Bookshop, which pursued the same plot line, only with much more engaging and empathetic characters. Most of the book group liked it, so I'm somewhat of an anomaly. I have liked her other books, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, both of which I've posted on this blog.
Here is an effusively glowing review from The Washington Post, another from The Guardian, and from Publishers Weekly. Even Kirkus loved it and thought it food for a film rendition--oh well, what do I know?!